Simple and Clean
by hikachu
Summary: Yuma, he knows, can chase away all the strange, unhappy thoughts just by being Yuma. They will keep being friends even when they grow up and become adults just like their fathers.


Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all / Nothing's like before (Hikaru Utada, _Simple and Clean_)

Summer gets closer as spring gets warmer, and he can feel the back of his shirt clinging slightly to shoulder blades and the small of his back. He doesn't even think about loosening up his necktie or undoing the first few buttons of his shirt, though: he likes to wear his uniform properly like Chris used to; he remembers himself, still clad in the kindergarten pale blue smock, looking at him with a delighted smile and wishing he could look _so grownup_ too.

Hey, hey, Yuma calls out to him. He's dashing forward and, of course, Kotori and Tetsuo are right behind him, trying to keep up and failing because they aren't reckless enough to run like that.

"Whew," Yuma pants heavily, hands on knees. "Sorry for the wait! I told them I had to go but—"

"But it was your turn to clean up the classroom!" Kotori frowns, pinches his ear, and pulls for good measure.

"Ouch ouch ouch! You're gonna tear it off! Tetsuooo! Help me!"

He watches the three of them bicker for a bit, because it's a picture that makes his heart warm.

There is a single moment where he feels left out, no, like he doesn't belong even if they are all friends and have been for years; like he's a lonely human looking at colorful fish playing together at the aquarium: he feels, in that moment, the glass between them, thick and cold, and then he forgets it the moment Yuma grabs his arm and starts to drag him away. He must be scowling, lower lip jutting out childishly, because you can practically hear it in his voice as he mutters something about _those two_, and this, too, warms up his heart.

Yuma, he knows, can chase away all the strange, unhappy thoughts just by being Yuma. They will keep being friends even when they grow up and become adults just like their fathers. He laughs.

"So, so! Did your dad come back from Egypt yet?" Yuma sounds excited. His eyes sparkle; he must be thinking of all the new treasures and all the new stories, the adventures that will paint his dreams and feed them into a wonderful future.

"Oh no, it will take at least another week: the site they are excavating right now is a tomb that has been found only recently, and it requires a lot of work," he replies with a fond smile.

"Eeeeh? Another week? Man, I'm jealous… Even getting cursed by the dead Pharaoh would be waaay better than being stuck at school all day!"

"Yu… Yuma, there is no cu—"

"Dad is gone too, and he refused to take me with him this time because he said I shouldn't miss so many days!"

"Kazuma-san has a point, I think—"

"By the way, can I come to your place today? I wanna see the mask your dad brought back last time! And I got this new spell card I want to show you—Hey, let's duel!"

Yuma grins, and he thinks about the day ahead of them: which tea he will brew today, and how it should go well with milk or cream, because Yuma likes his black tea to be as sweet as possible. He hopes his brother—his other brother, hasn't already eaten all the cookies Chris baked yesterday, otherwise he will have to stop by the convenience store to buy snacks. And if Chris is back early today, they will cook dinner together, something Yuma really likes, and they will ask him to stay. Maybe they will end up taking a bath together like last time: the youngest brothers and Yuma, and his brother will splash hot water into Yuma's face if he thinks he's being too stupid or too friendly.

There is nothing special about his life and it's not really hard to guess what will happen the next day and the one after that, but III wouldn't change it for anything in the world, so he keeps drifting away, every day a bit paler with veins that seem a bit bluer and his breath that grows shallower: yesterday IV came to visit him (he doesn't come very often) and cursed, he's as white as the sheets, he said then. V instead thinks III's becoming transparent like glass, like whatever long dream he's been seeing all this time, but he doesn't say anything because it would probably sound like III is fading away.


End file.
